This paper presents a review of the literature on gamification design frameworks. Gamification, understood as the use of game design elements in other contexts for the purpose of engagement, has become a hot topic in the recent years. However, there’s also a cautionary tale to be extracted from Gartner’s reports on the topic: many gamification-based solutions fail because, mostly, they have been created on a whim, or mixing bits and pieces from game components, without a clear and formal design process. The application of a definite design framework aims to be a path to success. Therefore, before starting the gamification of a process, it is very important to know which frameworks or methods exist and their main characteristics. The present review synthesizes the process of gamification design for a successful engagement experience. This review categorizes existing approaches and provides an assessment of their main features, which may prove invaluable to developers of gamified solutions at different levels and scopes. Full-paper: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279059823_A_literature_review_of_gamification_design_frameworks

1. A literature review of
gamification design frameworks
Alberto Mora*º, Daniel Riera*, Carina González^, Joan Arnedo-Moreno*
*Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)
^Universidad de La Laguna (ULL)
ºGrupo ICA
VS-GAMES 15 - Skövde
Sep 17th, 2015

2. 2
Introduction
» Objectives
» Motivation
» Methodology
» Framework’s review
» Results
» Conclusions and further work
» References

3. 3
Objectives
» Completing an state of the art about the gamification
design process
» Analyzing the relationship and differences between game
and gamification design principles
» Identifying the existing gamification design frameworks in
the literature and its classification

4. 4
Motivation
» Games present in all human civilizations
» Historical social and cultural importance
» Homo ludens (Huizinga,1955) [1]
» …
» Digital technologies -> Evolution of games
» Video games -> PONG game of ATARI (1975)
» Digital natives -> Omnipresence of games in their daily
lives

5. 5
Motivation
» Gamification
» 2002. Nick Pelling [2]: applying game-like accelerated
user interface design to make electronic transactions
both enjoyable and fast
» …
» 2011. Sebastian Deterding [3]: the use of game
design elements in non-game contexts
» 2012. Kevin Werbach [4]: the process of making
activities more game-like
» …

6. 6
Motivation
» Multidisciplinary field
» Scope
» Professionals: game designers, UX/UI designers,
psychologists, sociologists, computer engineers,
etc.
» Application
» Learning, e-health, business, marketing, human
resources, e-commerce, etc.

7. 7
Motivation
» Gamification’s academical interest (aggregate in
Scholar)

8. 8
Motivation
» Gartner’s predictions
» By 2014, 80 percent of the gamified applications would fail
to meet their business objectives, primarily due to poor
design
» By 2015, more than 50 percent of organizations that
manage innovation processes will gamify those
processes
» 2015: “Through of Disillusionment”, 5 to 10 years to
stabilize and reach the “Plateau of Productivity”,
technology is considered mature

9. 9
Motivation
» Game design VS gamification design?
» Gamification design purpose -> enhance the engagement
in non-game contexts
» Game design purpose -> towards pure entertainment
» Basics of gamification heavily rely on the principles of
game design theory. (common properties)
» Several authors are making an explicit distinction between
game and gamification design (i.e. Marczewski)

10. 10
Motivation
» Research questions:
» Q1: Which gamification design frameworks are
available now in the literature and which are their
main features?
» Q2: Do the gamification frameworks inherit all game
design principles for their development?
» Q3: What design items are not being applied, or in
lesser extent, by the gamification designers?

11. 11
Methodology
» Steps
» Survey (until March 2015)
» Literature review
» Web of Science (WOS)
» Scopus
» ScienceDirect
» ACM Digital
» IEEE Xplore
» Proquest
» Google Scholar

12. 12
Methodology
» Categorization
» Background: academic / non-academic
» Scope: complete / partial
» Approach: generic / business (in this study)
» Requirements (under a framework conceptualization [5]),
» Excluding “ad-hoc” proposals and recommendations
guidelines):
» Filtering up to 18 proposals

13. 13
Framework’s review

14. 14
Framework’s review

15. 15
Framework’s review

16. 16
Framework’s review
» 19 Items reviewed within the proposals (categorization)
» Economic
» Logic
» Measurement
» Psychology
» Interaction

17. 17
Framework’s review
» Economic
» Objectives: specific performance goals
» Viability: evaluation and analysis of the potential of
applying gamification or refuse it
» Risk: probability or threat of damage, injury, liability, loss,
or any other negative occurrence
» ROI: the benefit to the investor resulting from running a
gamified experience
» Stakeholders: integrating people who have to interact in
the design process

18. 18
Framework’s review
» Logic
» Loop: reinforcement and feedback in order to engage
the player in the key system actions
» End / epic win: a pre-established end of game or
glorious victory in the system
» On-boarding: the way of starting the new participants
» Rules: the body of regulations prescribed by the
designer

19. 19
Framework’s review
» Measurement
» Metrics: the standards of measurement by which
efficiency, performance, progress, process or quality
» Analytic: the algorithms and data used to measure
key performance indicators

20. 20
Framework’s review
» Psychology
» Fun: the enjoyment or playfulness
» Motivation: the behavior which causes a person to
want to repeat an action and vice-versa
» Social: the interaction between players
» Desired behaviors: the expected response of the
players after the interaction
» Ethics: right and wrong conducts

21. 21
Framework’s review
» Interaction
» Narrative: the story and context created by designers
» UI/UX: everything designed into the gamified system
which a player being may interact and the player’s
behaviors, attitudes, and emotions about using it
» Technology: the use or need of a software component
for implementing

22. 22
Framework’s review
» Framework’s feature summary in TABLE 1 (10 items are
displayed in APPENDIX A)
» Explicit (E): the item has appeared in the framework’s
definition.
» Implicit (I): the item has not appeared explicitly in the
framework definition. Inferred by the authors or
referred inside an academic work of the author.
» Unavailable (U): the item has not appeared anyway.

23. 23
Results
» Economic
» These issues are important for a few authors
» Usually, terms as risk, viability or ROI are low referred
» For more than a half, the participation of the
stakeholders in the design process is necessary
» The necessary definition of business objectives is
widespread

24. 24
Results
» Logic
» The importance of a well defined loop item is
extended in more than a half frameworks
» Less than a half of them consider the on-boarding and
endgame actions (entry and exit process) as relevant
in their approaches

25. 25
Results
» Measurement
» Most of frameworks refer explicitly the user data and
the importance of collecting these data
» The use of metrics is not widespread in all over the
approaches as a tool for quantify data

26. 26
Results
» Psychology
» This approach is an essential key that must be
present in the design process (high significance of this
topic in almost all of the frameworks)
» Most of them are Human-Based
» Most of the apply human motivation theories

27. 27
Results
» Interaction
» More than a half of them emphasize the importance of
user interface, user experience and the
recommendation of a software development
» No software architecture references to be employed
excepting one case

28. 28
Results
» Q1: What gamification design frameworks are
available now in the literature and what are their
features?
» A1:
» Original or based on other frameworks
» Different point of view. (UCD, Goals, IT, etc.)
» Gamification frameworks are very recent, matching
with the highest point of Gartner’s Hype Cycle in 2013
» Case studies needed (highly theoretical approaches)

29. 29
Results
» Q2: Do the gamification frameworks inherit all game
design principles for their development?
» A2:
» Game design principles and components are being
inherited
» Gamification design process differs from the
traditional game design process

30. 30
Results
» Q3: What design considerations are not being
applied, or only to a lesser extent, by the gamification
designers?
» A3:
» Viability, on-boarding, endgame/epic win, ethics,
technology, stakeholders (teamwork), etc.

31. 31
Conclusions
» Many frameworks are based or rely on others (i.e. 6D)
» Most of proposals are theoretical
» Case studies are not published from most of proposals
» Necessary items that are not being taken into account
» Highly regarded psychological items
» Less references to ethical, Viability, and On-boarding /
End-game processes (items)

32. 32
Further work
» A development of a complete and generic framework
from a new perspective not currently found in the
literature (lean-agile)
» Implementation (prototype)
» Application to different environments (learning and e-
health case studies)
» An extended of present work (another approaches and
updates, i.e. educational)

33. 33
References
[1] J. Huizinga, “Homo ludens: A study ofthe play element in culture,” Trans. RFC
Hull.] Boston: Beacon, 1955.
[2] N. Pelling, “the (short) prehistory of gamification,” Funding Startups (& other
impossibilities). Haettu, 2011.
[3] S. Deterding, R. Khaled, L. Nacke, and D. Dixon, “Gamification: toward a
definition,” in Chi 2011, 2011, pp. 12–15.
[4] Werbach, K., & Hunter, D. (2012). For the win: How game thinking can
revolutionize your business. Wharton Digital Press.
[5] Riehle, D. (2000). Framework design (Doctoral dissertation, Diss. Technische
Wissenschaften ETH Zürich, Nr. 13509, 2000).

34. 34
Thank you…
Alberto Mora
Estudis d'Informática, Multimedia i Telecomunicació
Universitat Oberta de Catalunya / Grupo ICA
Barcelona, Spain
amoraca@uoc.edu
alberto.mora@grupoica.com